Mains Marathon

• Explain the term gender stereotyping.
• Enumerate various impacts/challenges on/for men in society due to gender stereotypes.
• Conclude by stressing on the need to social awareness for gender stereotypes in a holistic manner for a gender just society.

Answer

A gender stereotype is a generalized view or preconception about attributes or characteristics, or the roles that are or ought to be possessed by, or performed by, women and men. A gender stereotype is harmful when it limits women’s and men’s capacity to develop their personal abilities, pursue their professional careers and/or make choices about their lives.

There are multiple impacts/challenges on/for men in society due to gender stereotypes.

Impact on Men:

• In general, the social position of men is categorised as a breadwinner. It constructed a dependent hierarchy in the institution of family. It has created a breadwinner model. Which is a paradigm of family centered on a breadwinner, the member of a family who earns the money to support the others.
• This stereotype has promoted the toxic masculinity that adheres to traditional male gender roles that consequently stigmatize and limit the emotions boys and men may comfortably express while elevating other emotions such as anger. It is marked by economic, political, and social expectations that men seek and achieve dominance.
• It is because of concepts such as Pink colored jobs that men's human development in various fields has been limited and scientific development of those streams has been hindered as well. E.g., Flight Attendants, etc.
• The Judicio-legal front appears to lack legal provisions for remedies against acts like domestic violence against men, perhaps because policy makers thought that men can only be accused but not victims.
• Recent incidents of suicide by youths in Punjab because of financial and emotional con, are results of absence of legal remedies in cases of “reverse dowry" and "contractual marriage".
• Absence of Gender-neutral rape law also undermine the concern of men along with person belonging to 3rd gender.
• Stereotyping against men in society not only harms their interests, but also reinforces violence and stereotypes against other genders, since it sometimes places men in pseudo-privileged positions.

The following steps have been taken to eliminate stereotypes against men and create a gender-just society:

• Two international human rights treaties contain express obligations concerning harmful stereotypes and wrongful stereotyping which include prohibition of stereotyping against men also.
  • Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women: Article 5: States Parties shall take all appropriate measures… to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.
  • Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Article 8(1)(b): States Parties undertake to adopt immediate, effective and appropriate measures to combat stereotypes, prejudices and harmful practices relating to persons with disabilities, including those based on sex and age, in all areas of life.
• Initiative taken by Government of India: Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, in order to effectively address the heinous crimes of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children through less ambiguous and more stringent legal provisions, the Ministry of Women and Child Development championed the introduction of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
  • It is the gender-neutral Act, has been enacted to protect children (irrespective of gender) from offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography and provide for establishment of Special Courts for trial of such offences and related matters and incidents.
  • The Act was amended in 2019, to make provisions for enhancement of punishments for various offences so as to deter the perpetrators (irrespective of gender) and ensure safety, security and dignified childhood for a child.

There has been a long history of discrimination and violence by one gender against the other in our society, so we must create a society where every gender's interests and concerns are treated equally and on a proportionate basis. To provide a better Society for successive generations we have to think beyond the limitations and stereotypes so that we can create gender just society for all.